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The Talvivaara Mining Company announced on Wednesday that it has concluded cooperation consultations with personnel and that it will lay off 246 of its 530 employees for an indefinite period.

In the beginning of the consultations with workers, the company estimated the possible employee impact to be terminations of employment, layoffs and changes to part-time contracts.

Talvivaara Mining said the layoffs will support its corporate reorganization and adjust the number of personnel to the current operating scheme under which ore production has been temporarily discontinued. It added that leaching and metals recovery activities will continue in a normal fashion.

Talvivaara Mining’s corporate reorganization began officially on Nov. 29. The company is scheduled to release its 2013 financial results on Feb. 27.

Berry pickers' protest wins compensation

Hundreds of berry pickers from Thailand who staged a long protest in Umeå, a town in northeast Sweden, over unpaid wages last summer have won their fight for compensation from the staffing company that hired them.

The 200 berry pickers went without wages in the summer but are now to be paid the equivalent of five to 10 months’ salary for a laborer in Thailand by a Thai employment agency.

Berry picker Somsak Samoesap said to Swedish Television News SVT that the wages should be paid on Jan. 20, but that he would not celebrate until he sees the money.

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

This story is posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.